first day at work!

I just had my first day of work and it was like Tetum Language Immersion: SUPER INTENSIVE. I can walk to work from where I'm living right now which is absolutely lovely. I didn't really have any set tasks once I got to work so after meeting everyone in the office and giving them all chocolates I decided that I'd spend my time studying Tetum with a little girl who seemed to work in the office as a cleaner and cook. We practiced all morning and then at lunch I went out with one of the staff that speaks english very well because he was educated in Australia. He wanted to hear all about Bernie Madoff. We had a quick lunch and then I came back to the office and started hanging out with the local staff, all of whom were more than willing to teach me Tetum (often all at once). It was really fun hanging out with them and I asked what they had been working on in the morning. Apparently they are planning trips out the organisations where the students are doing their internships this summer. I asked if I could join in on a trip and now it looks like I'll be treking across E. T. to at least one of the districts later on this week with some of the other staff. The idea is they are checking in to get some feed back from the organisations and from the students that were getting work experience for the last couple of weeks before they graduate. I'm going to head out now to go the market before it gets dark. More is coming on the adventure stories I missed from my trip here.
much love
mariesa